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ROFL at this rom com edit of True Detective 2

I think we can all agree that True Detective Season 2 was a bit of a trainwreck, owing in no small part to its absolute void of humour and emotion.

Thankfully, spoof video makers worldwideinterweb have made our hours of unrewarded dedication to the series all worthwhile, with this excellent new re-cut of the show as a dysfunctional romantic comedy (hence the awkward inclusion of the Trainwreckreference above! Yay!).

We’ve all seen Rachel McAdams in mushy movies about flowers and feelings before, and Colin Farrell recently revealed his more sensitive side in the absurd love story of The Lobster. Yet neither actor has ever shone so brightly as a romantic lead as in this beautiful dedication to the Bezzerides-Velcoro love affair.

Set to the music of Des’ree, Fatboy Slim, and Wilson Phillips, we want to see this regrettably short masterpiece adapted for a feature length.

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True Detective: Episode 5 Recap

It was inevitable that after last week’s episode this one was going to be something of a let down. It’s 66 days after what’s been dubbed the “Vinci massacre” and everything has changed. It’s like we’ve missed five episodes and have to catch up, so instead of plot development we get exposition. All this is a little annoying considering that after the first four episodes I wasn’t exactly sure where we were and now we’re not even there anymore. So where are we?

Let’s start with with our favourite first year philosophy student mobster Frank. He’s had to move out of his big ‘I’m a scary gangster’ house and into the type of place where you might find a jokey doormat on the front step. It’s not very Frank but he does actually seem to be in a better mood. The best moment in the episode, perhaps in the series, is when Frank goes to Chessani’s office. He finds the good Mayor asleep so he goes over and flicks his forehead to wake him up.

He’s like a student waking up a flatmate whose week old super noodles are clogging the sink. It’s a wonderful moment because in that split second all of Chessani’s intimidating power and corruption seem to count for nothing. He becomes a comic figure and that makes him vulnerable. And that’s one thing the Chessani family haven’t been for a century. The other good news for Frank is that there may be a way back into the dodgy land deal that Caspere’s murder scuppered. The shady – everyone’s shady in Vinci – property developer we’ve seen in previous episodes tells Frank that he can have his old deal back if he can find Caspere’s hard drive, which is full of what he calls “home movies”. In TV and film “home movies” are always a byword for unimaginable depravity. I can’t wait to see them.

Paul, as usual, is having more family problems and this time it’s his mother. She’s pinched the $25,000 loot he brought back from Afghanistan and he’s not best pleased. In the 66 days since we’ve seen him he’s acquired a suit, an annoying soon-to-be mother in law and become a detective specialising in fraud. Do you get the irony there? It’s quite subtle, you see. He’s a fraud detective because his life’s a FRAUD. Told you it was subtle.

Perhaps the biggest change of all is that Velcoro is now officially working for Frank as ‘security’. He’s got a card and everything. But it’s a position he may not hold for long due to his probable desire to now rip Frank limb from limb. This is because Velcoro finds out that Frank tricked him into revenge killing the wrong man after his wife was attacked. This, in effect, means that Frank is responsible for utterly destroying Velcoro’s life and Ray isn’t thrilled about it. The final shot is of Velcoro turning up at Frank’s saying “you and me need to talk” in the way that someone might confront a cheating lover. You suspect it might be a messy break up.

But what of Bezzerides? She’s been demoted to the evidence room in Ventura and is no longer a detective. But that’s not going to stop her. In fact, the new positions that Woodburgh, Velcoro and Bezzerides find themselves in aren’t going to stop any of them from carrying on almost exactly as before. They’re brought back together by the state attorney Katherine Davis who secretly puts them back on the, now closed, Caspere murder case. So even though it seems like everything’s changed, nothing really has. Can we get on with the story now?

Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what people are saying about True Detective on Twitter:

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True Detective: Episode 4 Recap

Watching the first three episodes of this season have at times felt like a chore, watching the fourth was the reward. This was the moment the difficult second series started to remind you of why you liked the first. The fortune cookie philosophising was dialled right down and the violence and excitement up. Even Frank’s laboured phrase making is starting to sound less like he read them out of a book with a picture of clouds on the cover.

“Sometimes your worst self is your best self” he says and bad-amatuer-orthodontist Frank is certainly better (for us) than the going-straight-businessman Frank. Losing all his money is the best thing that ever happened to him. He doesn’t see it that way and goes about strong arming all his old associates into old business deals, while wearing the glower of a teenager who’s been told to tidy his room. As imposing a presence as Vince Vaughn has been in the series, I still can’t quite banish the feeling that, at any moment, his scowl might relax into that familiar smirk and Frank will suddenly become best friends with a wisecracking blonde. It’s a problem.

Most of the problems for the characters in this episode came from matters of the heart (and groin). Paul wakes up to find himself in the bed of his old army buddy/lover with a stinking hangover and an identity crisis. He confides in Velcoro that he doesn’t know who he is or “how to be out in the world”. Now, that last part must be a deliberate double entendre but I hope it’s a mistake because it’s so clunky it hurts your ears. Later, in a depressing little scene, Paul’s old girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant. This seems to solidify his resolve to live a lie and he says they should get married and proclaims his love for her. She responds by saying “I guess I love you too”. Christmases at the Woodrugh’s are going to be fun.

Bezzerides is also having problems in love and the officer she unceremoniously dumped last episode has filed a complaint and now she’s suspended (except from the Caspere case) and under investigation for sexual misconduct. There are so many investigations and counter investigations going on at once that it’s virtually impossible to keep up with everything. It’s almost a relief that lots of people are now dead because it means less story lines to remember. One thing that does seem fairly obvious is that Mayor Chessani has something to do with Bezzerides’ suspension and, in fact, with everything else. Even his daughter seems terrified of him, telling Bezzerides that he “is a very bad person”. The question of just how bad looks set to be the defining one of the series.

We also find out that Chessani’s father knew Bezzerides’ spiritual commune leading father and that he had “a lodge”. Bezzerides’ father ominously seems to know almost everyone involved with the case. What exactly Chessani’s lodge was for is not clear but knowing that family as we now do, I suspect it was used for more than just the occasional chant. Apropo of nothing, senior Bezzerides says that Velcoro has one of the largest “auras” he’s ever seen. Whether the writers meant it or not it’s a moment of ludicrous comedy that is both jarring and funny. I hope we’ll see a lot more of the older Bezzerides. I’m certain we will.

Things get very serious again very quickly as Paul has a lead on a suspect in Caspere’s murder. It’s a pimp whose finger prints were on some valuables stolen from Caspere’s house. We all know that this two-bit skinhead isn’t the right guy but they have to follow it up. Unfortunately the pimp turns out to have a few more bits and a lot of machine guns. The subsequent chase and shootout are the climax to the series so far and leave as many questions as there are dead bodies. Why was the now dead Detective Teague following Paul? Why did Chessani say “let’s be careful out there” just before the carnage began? And why is half of Vinci now dead? The final shot is of Velcoro, Bezzerides and Woodrugh standing alone amid the carnage, shocked and shaking with adrenaline. After watching episode four, I knew how they felt.

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In Defense of True Detective Season 2

Judging by the reviews written so far, the press is showing a heck of a lot less good will towards True Detective Season 2 than it did to the 2014 original.

Perhaps due to the spreading realisation that showrunner Nic Pizzolatto is a bit of a schmuck, but more likely because the new season apparently doesn’t ‘live up to’ its McConaughey/Harrelson predecessor, critics are dismissing True Detective Season 2 as disappointing, pretentious, self-serious… You get the picture.

While those concerned with the former issue probably have a fair point (get a load of this pic of Pizzolatto in an abandoned insane asylum!), viewers bemoaning that True Detective Season 2 is ‘not as good’ as the first can get up and leave right now.

To begin with, recreating the genius of Season 1 was never an option. Would anyone really have wanted to see Colin Farrell doing his best Rust Cohle impression, or Vince Vaughn having a go at Marty Hart? Ok, maybe that would’ve been fun. But what we get in Season 2 is shaping up to be so much better than what the carbon copy of Season 1 that might have been.

Season 2 brings in a whole new cast, with many more characters than we had before. Rather than studying the relationship between two very different detectives forced to work together on a case, this time we have three; Rachel McAdams as Ani Bezzerides, Taylor Kitsch as Paul Woodrugh, and Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro, who must solve a bizarre, conspiratorial murder.

Admittedly, all three of these cops have pretty unbelievable backstories. Take Bezzerides, for example. Not only is her father the leader of the new age religious commune in which she was raised, but her sister is an online sex worker, and her mother an actress who ended her life by walking into a lake. Perhaps this explains Bezzarides’s drinking and gambling problems, and why she keeps a blade in her belt and a knife in her sock at all times. We don’t have space to get into the many layers of Woodrugh and Velcoro, but they’ve got their own problems with dark pasts, Oedipal complexes, violence, sexuality, drugs, and paternity confusions to be dealing with.

While we could dismiss the rather extreme characterisation in True Detective Season 2 as preposterous, we prefer to see it as potential. Every element of each character strikes us as a clue of something yet to unfold, and we’re sufficiently intrigued by how it’s all going to come together.

Then we have Vince Vaughn as Frank Semyon, crime boss of the city of Vinci (how has no one made a Vinci Vaughn joke yet?!), and his beautiful wife Jordan (Kelly Reilly). While these two currently inhabit a rather separate world to the rest of them, with some crossover via the dirty cop Velcoro, the couple is to True Detective what Kingpin and Vanessa were to Daredevil, and the Semyons are fast becoming the most alluring pieces of the Season 2 puzzle.

We still need to address the biggest criticism of True Detective Season 2 so far – its lack of humour. From the first three episodes alone, I dare say it’s the critics who need a better sense of humour, as the script is dotted with plenty of lol moments; even if not all of these were intended as such.

Rachel McAdams’s much chided e-cigarette is unquestionably the star of the show, dutifully serving as a comedic ice-breaker and bringing a little blue light to the otherwise bleak landscape of Vinci whenever it graces the screen. Meanwhile, Farrell’s Velcoro constantly keeps us amused with his antisocial, ‘oh you..’ behaviour. “You want honest? Tell me, how compromised are you?” demands Bezzerides. “Anyways, goodnight…” replies Velcoro, eyes shifting as he backs away into the night. 10/10 jokes!

These subtly comic moments stand in perfect balance to the show’s lasting commitment to the dark and seamy sides of life, and keep us excited for every last episode.

So for those looking for the hallmarks of True Detective 1, you’ll still find them in the new series, albeit in broader brush strokes than before. The interpersonal friction, the smart (occasionally inaudible) dialogue, the fetishistic elements, the intrigue… all remains in a fresh new form that’s still yet to unfold, if only people would give it the time to.

From what we’ve seen so far, True Detective Season 2 is a welcomely different beast from the original series, which is precisely the purpose of an anthology. Don’t give up on it just yet.

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Watch Latest True Detective Season 2 Trailer

It’s been a huge few days for trailers in TV land, and what better way to wrap up the working week than with a brand new peek at True Detective sSeason ?

Unlike the first teaser trailer released in April, this new trailer reveals the actors speaking, however it’s still keeping its cards to its chest regarding what exactly the season will be about.

We know so far that Kitsch plays a war veteran-cum-California motorcycle cop who uncovers a bizarre crime scene. The ensuing investigation then brings together Ray Velcoro (Farrell), Ani Bezzerides (McAdams) and Frank Semyon (Vaughn); a corrupt cop, a no-nonsense sheriff, and a career criminal, respectively.

Judging by the clip below, our patience will be rewarded when True Detective Season 2 premieres on June 21st at 9pm ET/PT.

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True Detective 2 Gets UK Air Date

Good news for True Detective fans in the UK; Sky Atlantic has announced that we will see the Season 2 premiere just one day after it airs in the U.S! That means that the much-anticipated crime drama will finally hit our screens on Monday June 22, and our American friends won’t be able to ruin it with too many spoilers.

In case you missed it, here’s the first teaser trailer released by HBO, which shows cast members Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams in their gritty new roles.

We know so far that Kitsch plays a war veteran-cum-California motorcycle cop who uncovers a bizarre crime scene. The ensuing investigation then brings together Ray Velcoro (Farrell), Ani Bezzerides (McAdams) and Frank Semyon (Vaughn); a corrupt cop, a no-nonsense sheriff, and a career criminal, respectively. We were also very excited to spot British actress Kelly Reilly in the trailer, who plays Seymon’s long-suffering wife.

And in case you were wondering what that beautifully chilling song is, it’s a yet-untitled song performed by Nashville-based singer songwriter Lera Lynn, and co-written by Roseanne Cash and T Bone Burnett.

The first two episodes in the series have been directed by Justin Lin of Community and the Fast and Furious fame.

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True Detective Season 2 Trailer: Watch It Here

In anticipation of the new season coming Sunday June 21st, HBO has released the first teaser trailer for the second coming of True Detective.

Following the acclaimed first season led by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, showrunner Nic Pizzolatto has got even more movie stars on board for round two, which explores corruption within California’s law enforcement.

We know so far that Kitsch plays a war veteran-cum-California motorcycle cop who uncovers a bizarre crime scene. The ensuing investigation then brings together Ray Velcoro (Farrell), Ani Bezzerides (McAdams) and Frank Semyon (Vaughn); a corrupt cop, a no-nonsense sheriff, and a career criminal, respectively. We were also very excited to spot British actress Kelly Reilly in the trailer, who plays Seymon’s long-suffering wife.

And in case you were wondering what that beautifully chilling song is, it’s a yet-untitled song performed by Nashville-based singer songwriter Lera Lynn, and co-written by Roseanne Cash and T Bone Burnett.

All we can say is, HBO’s done a damn fine job of making True Detective Season 2 look incredibly exciting in just 61 seconds! Bring on June 21st.